


Prom Isn't All That Bad

by Bunnywith



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 22:46:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunnywith/pseuds/Bunnywith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt. "How about they're at a dance or something and Equius has to work up the guts to ask her to dance with him"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prom Isn't All That Bad

He hated this suit. He hated his tie, he hated the music, everyone around him, and the very CONCEPT of school dances. He spent the day with these people and then he’d paid for a ticket to spend the evening with them too. Not just the ticket, he’d also paid to rent a tux and buy flowers he was too nervous to give to their intended recipient. They were sitting in a vase on the snack table now. He preferred to just pretend they had always been part of the décor, rather than acknowledge them as a symbol of his cowardice.

Equius looked across the gym and saw her, standing with her friends and laughing. She looked so beautiful with her hair done up, wearing a dress that made her look more like Morticia Addams than the prom queen everyone else was trying to look like, a radiant smile on her face. He wished he could enjoy prom as much as she did. And if he could get a dance from her, just one dance, he probably would.

He stayed at his post, alone, watching as she was invited by this friend or that friend to dance. He caught sight of other students throwing her looks of disgust or of disbelief, presumably due to her dress, but she never even noticed them. She was having too much fun to pay attention to anyone else, which made Equius smile. He would have hated for anyone to attempt to bring down her mood for any reason at all. Even if he could never find the nerve to ask her for a dance, he could at least rest assured that he had served out the night as her silent and unseen knight, protecting her from all who looked at her with disdain.

Aradia parted with her friend as the song wound down, and a slow song started up. The dating couples all moved closer together, heads on shoulders, arms around waists. Aradia and her friends just looked at each other and laughed, too uncomfortable to ask each other to dance to a make out song. She would have been happy to just dance face to face instead of chest to chest with her best friend Tavros, but he’d been yanked away by a blonde wearing aviators, leaving Aradia with her back to the wall, watching everyone else.

Equius felt his heart leap up into his throat. This was it. This was his chance. He pushed away from the wall, hands trembling in fear.

_‘Calm down, the worst she can do is say no.’ _He tried to tell himself, but hearing a no would be devastating.__

___‘You have to try or you’ll always wonder. Do it. DO IT!’_ _ _

__He did his best to forget his nerves, shakily crossing the dance floor. By the time he was standing close enough for her to notice him, he had all-but lost his ability to form coherent sentences, evidenced by the single word that tumbled out of his mouth, along with a sweaty, outstretched hand._ _

__“Dance??” He nearly shrieked over the music._ _

__Aradia looked up at him and giggled. He felt himself crumbling. She’d laughed. He was going to move to a different city and change his name._ _

__“You’re in my science class, aren’t you? You proved the teacher wrong about mitochondria and cardiac dysfunction.”_ _

__“Y-Yes.” Equius gasped, pleased she’d even remembered him, much less fondly. If proving a teacher wrong could be called a fond memory._ _

__His heart nearly stopped when he felt her place her small hand in his, his fingers closing around her hand as he let her guide him out to the dance floor._ _

__“Now, I’m not about to let you put your hands on my waist just because this is a dance.”_ _

__“Of course not!” Equius’ voice was strained and coming out in a higher pitch than normal. He was grateful to even have the chance to dance with her, to be allowed to have his hands chastely on her shoulders._ _

__“Glad you’re not gonna be a prick about it.” She smiled at him, placing his hands on her shoulders. His shoulders were higher than was comfortable for her to reach, so she curled her arms around his, her hands resting in the curve of his arm. They swayed slowly to the music, Equius feeling nauseous and dizzy, nervous and excited, thrilled and panicked all at once, but more than any other feeling in the vortex of emotions spinning inside his head, he felt an overpowering joy as he looked down at her and her small hands holding onto his arms, her soft sweet smile directed toward him, her eyes on him, only on him. For just a few minutes there was no one else, just the two of them in their own world._ _

__After the dance he’d grabbed the flowers he bought from the snack table and sprinted from the gym to catch her in time, before she stepped into her dad’s car. He called her name from across the parking lot and made his way to her side in record time, sweating and gasping for air, holding the flowers out for her._ _

__“For… You.”_ _

__“…Aren’t these from the snack table?”_ _

__“Got them for you. Too scared to give them to you.” He blushed dark, feeling light headed from running and from fear that she wouldn’t believe him._ _

__Aradia’s eyes lit up. She’d never received a bouquet before! She took them in her arms and found a little card buried inside, reading in smeared ink, _‘For Aradia, From Equius’.__ _

__“They’re beautiful!” She grabbed him by his tie and pulled him down, kissing his cheek. Her dad grumbled behind her and she obediently got into the car, rolling the window down and waving to him as she drove away._ _

__“See you in science!”_ _

__Maybe prom wasn’t so bad._ _


End file.
